Gentlemen of the Mess:
Shortly before Christmas, on a Canadian antique firearms dealer's website., I came across a recently-listed - and simply gorgeous - Canadian-issue Snider-Enfield rifle .... and immediately knew that I absolutely
must own it - a 3-band "Long Rifle" (as issued to regular infantry) with "long butt" (i.e. 1" longer than standard, for issue to tall men.) I already had a pretty nice 3-band Snider, but felt I could not live without this particular rifle because, in addition to being in extremely good condition in all respects, it was marked as having been issued to the 43rd (Carleton) Battalion of Infantry, Active Militia of Canada, which made it extremely significant to me personally.
As many of you know, my surname is Rombough, and in fact anyone of that surname in Canada is descended from a single family of Loyalists, in which there were four sons, each son having a line descended from him. Here is the reason for the significance of this particular rifle for me:
The full inscription on the rim of this medal (which I am honoured to own) reads: "Pte. D. Rombough, 43rd. Bn." and it is one of three such "Canada General Service 1866-1870" medals issued to Canadian militiamen with the surname Rombough .....
all three of whom served together in the 43rd Battalion. So, not only were all three of them enrolled in the 43rd when this rifle would have been on issue to the unit, but the chances are actually fairly good that it might have been issued to one of them! I say that because Rombough men have always been quite tall, so a "long butt" rifle is what they would have been issued. For example, all four of the Rombough men (the father and his three eldest sons) who served in the Loyalist "King's Royal Regiment of New York" ninety years earlier during the American Revolution were exceptionally tall for the era, their heights being recorded on the regimental roll as 5 9 1/4" for the father, 6'1/4" for two of the sons, and 5'10" for the youngest son in the unit, who was my own direct ancestor, John Rombough ..... but who was only 19 years of age at the time!
Having hopefully now given some idea of the importance of this rifle to me, personally, you can imagine my severe disappointment, when I finally managed to get into contact with the dealer a few days later, only to learn that this piece had been sold to a collector here in Alberta the previous week!
Well, gentlemen, I refused to give up! I pestered the dealer to put me in touch with the chap who had purchased the rifle and, although he would not give out his contact information (understandably,) I finally convinced him to e-mail the purchaser and pass along my interest and the reason for it. Thankfully, the gentleman did contact me and although advising that he is careful to get the best quality firearms he can locate for his collection ..... and then seldom if ever disposes of one ..... he was willing to at least consider relinquishing this rifle to me in the circumstances. We arranged to meet at the Calgary Gun Show (largest in Canada, held the Friday and Saturday of the Easter weekend each year) to "talk".
I am overjoyed to report that the "talk" was successful, and I am now the owner of this coveted piece!
Queen Victoria's Royal Cypher and Enfield mark and date on lock plate -
Dominion of Canada Property mark and Enfield cartouche on butt -
Battalion and 'stand of arms' numbers on buttplate tang -
I have been planning to get a new uniform ..... and was contemplating another for the Queen's Own Rifles of Canada - which is the unit represented my existing 1885 North West Rebellion uniform - although it was going to be an earlier version appropriate to the 1866 through early 1870s timeframe of the Fenian Raids. Needless to say, my plans have changed and I will now be acquiring the standard Canada Militia regular infantry uniform of that period, numbered to the 43rd Battalion .... of course!
I plan to get the standard Pattern 1863 tunic (as shown on the left above) rather than the simpler "field frock" which a few units had for active campaigning. I posted this double image to show the two types of headwear I'll eventually need - the Pattern 1861 Shako and the "kilmarnock cap". Both of these chaps are Canadian militia infantrymen with muzzle-loading Pattern 1853 Enfield rifle muskets .... however, the same uniforms and kit continued in use following the re-arming of the Militia with the Snider-Enfield breech-loading conversion rifle in 1867 - except that the the cap pouch shown worn on the cartridge box cross-strap was no longer needed and was discarded. The inset shows the Pattern 1860 "ball bag" worn on the waistbelt at front right, into which the loose cartridges were dumped when one of the ten-round paper packets of cartridges carried in the cartridge box was opened.
Here are period photographs of Canadian Militia infantrymen in this kit, after the Snider-Enfield had become standard issue -
The chap on the left is a Sergeant, so he was issued with the 2-band "Short Rifle" and yataghan sword bayonet of the same patterns as issued to all personnel in Rifles units. The two Privates on the right have the 3-band "Long Rifle" and socket bayonet otherwise standard for regular infantry.